1959 The Year That Changed Jazz

BBC4 Friday 17th February 12.00 Midnight

1959 was the seismic year jazz broke away from complex bebop music to new forms, allowing soloists unprecedented freedom to explore and express. Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus (check out our Spotify playlist we put together following the event) made ground-breaking albums each a high watermark for the artists and a powerful reflection of the times. Rarely seen archive performances help vibrantly bring the era to life and explore what made these albums vital both in 1959 and the 50 years since.

Charles Mingus wrote his autobiography in 1971, appropriately titled “Beneath The Underdog”, which nakedly chronicled his turbulent life as a composer and player of some of the most emotionally intense music in the history of jazz. Charles Mingus fought tenaciously against the overt racism he encountered, problems exacerbated by his own egocentric nature and personal demons which led to many damaging clashes of personality.  Throughout it all however, he determinedly built up a unique style of music both as an imaginative soloist who chose largely to ignore conventional harmonic principles and as a writer who, while clearly strongly influenced by Duke Ellington, produced a substantial body of innovative work.

Dave Brubeck’s stunning 1959 album “Time Out” proved to be a landmark recording in the history of jazz music as it appealed to a wider audience than previously thought possible and contained the hit single “Take Five”, an infectious tune set in 5/4 time which crossed over to the pop market, and the distinctive opening track “Blue Rondo A La Turk”. The group comprised the leader on piano, Eugene Wright on bass, Joe Morello on drums and the inimitable Paul Desmond, who composed that best-known number, on lyrical alto saxophone. Presented in its entirety here, the seven tracks range over highly unusual time signatures with influences derived from blues and classical sources, with underrated compositions like “Three To Get Ready” and especially “Kathy’s Waltz” highlighting the work of a unique unit.

Miles Dewey Davis was born in Alton, Illinois in 1926 into a middle class family who provided him with his first trumpet at the age of thirteen. Miles Dewey Davis gained early experience of playing in public as a guest in Billy Eckstine’s travelling big band in 1944 and, while still a teenager, with Charlie Parker’s dynamic bebop pioneers in New York. He had won a scholarship to the city’s prestigious Juilliard School but quickly became drawn to the burgeoning new movement of modern jazz played at Harlem’s Mintons and the 52nd Street clubs led by Parker, Monk, Clarke and fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Miles Dewey Davis sometimes struggled to keep up with the breathtakingly fast tempos favoured by the boppers, but instead developed a unique sound instantly recognisable and perfectly suited to the lonely, largely melancholy repertoire which became the trademark of his introspective appeal.

Barber, Bilk & Ball Review by Barry McCanna

On the face of it, this reissue should be welcomed, particularly by those who can recall the trad boom of the late fifties/early sixties. It contains 45 recordings from that era by three of the foremost traditional jazz bands, which means that all are over fifty years old. Given that such material should attract also a new generation of listeners it’s important that it is presented in such a way as to inform, and the liner note makes a nod in that direction with three thumbnail sketches of the three bandleaders, but that is as far as it goes. The novitiate will search in vain for any detail of the personnel involved, apart that is from passing reference to Pat Halcox.

The compilation is a cross-section of the sort of numbers being played at that time, of which the most successful in my book are the slow clarinet solos by Acker Bilk and Monty Sunshine, although you’ll search in vain for reference to the latter, since they’re simply credited to Chris Barber (who played bass on Monty’s solos, if memory serves). The excellence of Acker Bilk’s band tended to be overshadowed at the time by their fancy outfits and arcane sleeve notes, but purists were outvoted.

Some of the Chris Barber tracks are live recordings, culled presumably from his “In Concert” LPs. I believe that “Snake Rag” dates from March 1951, and was recorded by Chris Barber’s New Orleans Jazz Band at the Hammersmith Palais, with a completely different line-up; it certainly sounds like it! Listen out also for Ottilie Patterson, aka then as Mrs. Barber, who takes several vocals, including a rousing version of “The Saints”.

Shirley Bassey - Grand Dame of Song

Shirley Bassey now playing on Spotify, iTunes & Amazon

Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE (born 8 January 1937^[1]), is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century".^[2][3] In the US, in particular, she is best known for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979), and is a UNESCO Artist for Peace

Art Pepper - Jazz Manifesto

Art Pepper now playing on Spotify,  iTunes & Amazon

His last comeback saw Pepper, which had started his career in Stan Kenton's big band, becoming a member of Buddy Rich's Big Band from 1968 to 1969. In 1977 and 1978 he made two well received tours of Japan.^[1] During this period, he recorded two albums - Goin' Home with George Cables, and Winter Moon with a string orchestra - which were among his favorites and which he considered his definitive achievements.

Art Blakey - Jazz Manifesto

Art Blakey now playing on Spotify,  iTunes & Amazon

By the late forties and early fifties, Blakey was backing musicians such as Miles Davis, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk — he is often considered to have been Monk's most empathetic drummer,^[5] and he played on both Monk's first recording session as a leader (for Blue Note Records in 1947) and his final one (in London in 1971), as well as many in between.

Mutant X Limited Edition

On January 30th 2012.  Mutant X the complete series will be released in the UK by Deltamusic.co.uk, a 15 disc limited edition box set. Only 3000 have been made and each box is uniquely identified.

Protecting a world that doesn't know they exist. Mutant X: a team of human mutants who possess extraordinary powers as a result of genetic engineering. Like hundreds of other unsuspecting subjects, these people were altered in secret experiments conducted in a covert government project. Realising that events have spun out of control, the organization that created them is now hunting them down in an urgent product recall . Mutant X s mission is to seek out their fellow new mutants, to help them come to terms with their astonishing abilities and protect them from their creators.

Starring:

Victor Webster (Drop Dead diva, Bones) as Brennan Mulwray

Victoria Pratt (Lie To Me, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth) as Shalimar Fox

Forbes March (CSI, Wired City) as Jesse Kilmartin

John Shea (The New Adventures Of Superman, Gossip Girl) as Adam Kane

Lauren Lee Smith (The Listener, CSI) as Emma deLauro 

Also available on Amazon UK

Barber Bilk and Ball

Donald Christopher ‘Chris’ Barber was born 17 April 1930 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. He studied double bass and trombone at London’s Guildhall School of Music, and in 1948 put his first band together, the King Oliver-inspired Barber New Orleans band.  In 1953, he co-founded  Dixieland band The Jazzmen with cornetist and trumpeter Ken Colyer, but after Colyer left in ’54 the band became The Chris Barber Band. Barber and Lonnie Donegan are credited with starting the skiffle craze with their 1955 cover of Leadbelly’s ‘Rock Island Line’, the first ever debut single to go Gold in the UK, which made the US Top 10.

Bernard Stanley ‘Acker’ Bilk was born 29 January 1929 in Pensford, Somerset. He was more interested in athletics than music as a boy, losing two front teeth in a fight and part of a finger sledging, which he maintained affected his clarinet playing style.  He first acquired a clarinet, for which he had to fashion a reed out of scrap wood, when serving with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone.

Kenneth Daniel ‘Kenny’ Ball was born 22 May 1930 in Ilford, Essex.  Ball played the trumpet as a sideman in the bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips and others before forming his own Dixieland combo in 1958. Their recording of Cole Porter’s ‘Samantha’ was a UK hit in 1961, but their biggest hit was the Transatlantic smash ‘Midnight in Moscow’, which made it to #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts .

Trombonist Chris Barber, clarinettist Acker Bilk and trumpeter Kenny Ball were the acknowledged masters of British trad (traditional) jazz. Barber Bilk and Ball features 45 original recordings digitally remastered and is available from Delta 27-02-2012

A great companion piece to Delta’s 2011 3 CD set ‘It’s Trad Man!’

Now available on iTunes & Amazon MP3

St Patricks Day - Country & Irish

This superb collection traces the history of the best of country and Irish music over the past 50 years, featuring the cream of Irish talent over that period. Beginning with the phenomenal success of the Clancy Brothers, who in the early ‘60's brought their special brand of Irish music to America selling millions of albums and appearing on top American T.V shows, the collection includes Daniel O' Donnell’s first hit ‘My Donegal Shore’  and his classic version of ‘40 Shades of Green’, and  the Queen of Irish country music Philomena Begley’s #1 single ‘Blanket on the Ground’.

The collection is brought up to the present day with Seán Murray's ‘The Galway Girl’,  Donna Taggart’s superb version of ‘Danny Boy’ and Seán O' Farrell singing ‘I Can't Stop Loving You’ and ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’. Also features a selection of great tracks from artists including Johnny McEvoy, Gloria, The Cotton Mill Boys, and Seán Dunphy, making this truly the ultimate Country and Irish collection.

Now Available on iTunes & Amazon MP3

The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus is one of the most successful series of books for children ever written. Intended to teach scientific concepts to children, the books were written between 1986 and 2006 by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen.

This release includes all 16 episodes of the first series of Magic School Bus, each featuring fascinating scientific facts to entertain and educate young viewers. The DVD also features an interactive educational quiz with questions based on answers found in the episodes.

The books were turned into this animated TV series which is has been shown on POP TV in the UK, starring the vocal talents of Lily Tomlin and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show).

They feature the antics of Ms. Valerie Frizzle, an elementary school teacher, and her class, who board a magical school bus which takes them on field trips to impossible locations such as the solar system, clouds, the past, and the human body.

Available on DVD 27-02-2012 from Deltamusic.co.uk

Classic Age of Steam

In February Delta release a brand new steam train DVD, featuring footage from some of the most famous trains  in history.

This DVD includes a look at steam locomotives in preservation at Bridgnorth, archive footage from East Milton station, Birmingham New Street Station, the Southern Railway (SR), the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and the Great Western Railway (GWR).

The era when the speed and power of the stream trains epitomized the freedom and romance of travel, the age when although elaborate and delicate, the steam railway was one of the most successful feats of construction and organisation ever evolved by man.

The locomotives, the rolling stock and liveries, the journeys and the architecture; all of which went to make one of the greatest eras in railway history.

Also featured is footage of the Golden Arrow, the approaches to London on LNER in the 1930s, the Flying Scot on tour in North America in the 1930s leaving Montreal en route to the World’s Fair in Chicago, the Elizabethan leaving Kings Cross, and the Cornish Riviera Express. For more information check out steam train galleries.co.uk

Available on Amazon UK